Naruto: Next Generation
by Shizumi Sasuke
Summary: Naruto and then gang get students. Official Chap 9. Up! Chapter 1 reposted for clarity.
1. Pep Talk

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, or any of the characters that you guys created.

Notes: Ummm, wow, so many people submitted characters, I thought no one would…okay, not everyone will be in the fic, and not everyone will get the sensei that they want, and just to include more people, I added Shino in there, and also decided that Gaara and Kin will capture and train some random people that I pick out from the 20 pages of emails I have on my lap. By the way, this is to Hitomi No Ryu if she is reading this: this is not interactive fiction, just me trying to get some ideas for characters because I lack creativity. One other thing, umm, the rating might go up as we go along. Thanks for waiting so patiently.

1. Pep Talk

Hatake Kakashi, former Jounin, now Hokage, was very bored, they were late and he had read all his books already… he had been hokage for a little over three months, and he was still the regular oddball. Of course Kakashi had refused to wear the stupid hat that the hokages traditionally wear, it interfered with his style. He still preferred to wear his normal vest and mask. Kurenai had told him he looked sexy like that.

Suddenly, the following people burst in: Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru, Shino, Hinata, and Neji all appeared in a puff of smoke.

"You people are like, an hour late!!" Kakashi scolded, "Where the hell were you?"

" What happened to you, Kakashi-sensei, I mean, Hokage-sama?" Sasuke mocked, "If I remember correctly, you were the one that was always late, meeting cute girls and old ladies and shit."

"Well…" Kakashi scratched his head, looking sheepish, "That was the old me, I changed a lot, now that I'm Hokage, of course, you have to value time, valor, honesty…"

"Blah, blah, blah, this is so troublesome, can't you get to the point already?" Shikamaru yawned.

Neji gave them all a dirty look, it was so typical of them to waste time as they did, "Or, better yet, you can just give us our students and skip this crap of a lecture."

"No, the lecture is very critical." Said Kakashi, fumbling in his desk for a sheaf of papers,

"Ah, here we are."

"Man, this is taking too long," complained Ino, looking at her watch, "I'm gonna miss my manicure."

"Be quiet!" Kakashi glared at her, "Now, I will hand to you, your assigned team members." He glanced at the top sheet, "Hyuga Neji, you will lead team 45, consisting of Hatake Ainami, Hyuga Hotaru, and Aquarius."

Neji took the list, "Did my daughter ask you to do that?" he demanded.

"No, the teams are chosen at random," Kakashi answered, "Now, I will tell you a little bit about your other two students…um, Ainami's my niece, so be nice to her or else you will hear from me personally. As for Aquarius, he graduated with the third highest score in class, and he's the quiet type, you shouldn't have trouble with him."

Neji pocketed the list.

"Moving on," Kakashi stared at Sasuke, "You, Uchiha Sasuke will lead Team 49, Uchiha Maki, Aburame Kinji, and Sephroth Sekimb."

"By any chance are you going to check up on us sometime?" Sasuke grinned, he was going to have fun…

"Yeah, now, Kinji, Shino's bro." Kakashi shuddered ever so slightly _damn bugs_, "Uchiha Maki is your third cousin, he's improving, doesn't get pissed very often. Sekimb looks like some guy that runs a Halloween shop. Has this huge sword, he's too young to be playing with stuff like that…"

"Whatever." Sasuke shrugged.

"Naruto, you're next." Kakashi continued, "You will lead Team 43, Jin Kazama, Sao Brad, and Uzumaki Sajito."

Naruto groaned, "Are you sure these teams are chosen at random? Sajito is not ready to be a ninja, why'd you guys let him graduate?"

"Sajito is ready," Kakashi said firmly, "Well, anyway, moving on, Sao Brad is a new kid, moved here recently, kind of lazy, but he fights when he needs to. Jin Kazama is obsessed with pizza and he steals my books."

"Okay, fine." Naruto took the list.

"Sakura," Kakashi shot a glance at the petal-haired ninja, "You will lead Team 46, Yamamoto Akiko, Ryuuchi Shikari, and Uchiha Fei. The strongest one in your team is Akiko, she's not bad, obsessive, but, yeah…she'll try to play mother and she gets pissed if people are sexist, and Uchiha Fei could be strong, but her chakra control's like Naruto."

"Hey, what's that suppose to mean?" Demanded Naruto.

"Nothing," Kakashi ignored him and handed Sakura her slip of paper, "and Nara Shikamaru, you're leading Team 44, Uribatake Seiya, Shorai Natsu, and Nohashii Mizu."

"Yeah, this is so troublesome. Why do I always have to work with girls?" Shikamaru opened one eye to glance at the list.

"Seiya has a problem with hygiene. He's not a girl." Kakashi wrinkled his nose, "Natsu, hm, she's a weirdo, and gets fired up anytime someone mentions toothpicks, and Mizu, she's the youngest ninja ever to graduate since my time."

A snore told them that Shikamaru was asleep.

"Okay, now, Ino, you will lead Team 42, Hyuga Rain, Azuki Rikku, and Uchiha Ayame."

"I'm so going to miss my manicure." Wailed Ino.

"Shut up." Sakura slapped her, "It's not the end of the world."

"Rain picks fights plenty, she overestimates herself, but then, people underestimate her, so I guess its even, Rikku, she's like you, but let's not go into that in detail, and Ayame, well, think of vampires…"

"Okay, okay, whatever," Ino snapped impatiently.

"Well, Hyuga Hinata, you'll lead Team 40, Kitsueki Shinri, Inuzuka Nyoko, and Kai." Kakashi looked up at the pale girl.

Hinata gave a visible shudder, "Okay, Hokage-sama."

"Now, Shinri has toxic blood, and she reeks it as her shield, pretty decent, but she doesn't know when the fight is over. Inuzuka Nyoko is Kiba's oldest daughter, reckless, but patient, I guess that's the result of growing up with 7 brothers. Lastly, but certainly not least, Kai, he is an orphan and currently lives with Iruka, nobody knows where he came from, but rumor is that he has one Byukagan, and one Sharingan, interesting…" Kakashi took a deep breath, "Whew!"

Sasuke coughed, and avoided Naruto's gaze. "Is it over?"

"Yeah, well, Shino, are you sure you don't want students, there's still some." Kakashi directed his gaze to the quiet guy.

"All right, I guess." Shino shrugged.

"You will lead Team 48, Lee Taichi, Dakegi Max, and Kuromori Ali." Kakashi scribbled the names on a piece of paper and handed it to Shino. "Taichi's too polite, but that's a good sign. Max is his rival, um, Max is pretty good, he talks to his sword, but let's overlook that for a minute, Ali, she's like Sasuke was 16 years ago."

"Fine, just as long as the kids won't cause me any trouble." Shino smirked lightly.

" Guys, have fun and kick ass, just kidding." Kakashi gave a casual wave, "Good luck."

"Say what?" Shikamaru yawned as Ino kicked him, "They're just kids, what could they do?"

##########

A/N: If I didn't use your character, I'm sorry, and I'll try to update soon.


	2. Missions pt 1

            Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto or your characters (I hate repeating.)

 Notes: This is a lot longer than I expected, I'm dividing the first mission section into three parts, this one will have Team Neji, Team Sasuke, and Team Naruto. (I decided to make the couples Neji/Sakura, and Hinata/Naruto, and a little bit Hinata/Sasuke, in case anyone's wondering.) and everyone will get a little one on one time with their senseis throughout the story (not that way…) sorry for the messed up first chap, I was in a hurry. The only reason Kakashi's hokage is because I thought it would be interesting, he's not that old! =)

3. Missions, Part 1.

 To make a long story short, they all got their students and agreed to start training the day after.

            Neji woke up unusually early the following day, eager to start training with his new team. But then, it was only five thirty, and he had told Aquarius, Hotaru, and Ainami to meet him at the edge of the woods at seven, so he still had lots of time to kill. He kissed Sakura lightly, who was still sleeping the mat beside him and slipped out quietly.

 "Sensei." He heard someone call and turned around to see Aquarius Rai jogging up to him.

"You train early," Neji commented quietly, "Aquarius is your name, isn't it?" 

"Yeah, I guess." The golden-eyed boy was dressed in a black sweatshirt and baggy black shorts, his hair stuck up ever which way, for he did not take time to comb it.

 Neji continued walking, and Aquarius tagged along behind him, Hey, um…"

"What?"

"Nothing." Aquarius did not know why talking was hard for him, he had been told by his mother that it was no use being a lone wolf, and that he should get out more, but him being antisocial was just natural.

 Neji, personally, did not mind that Aquarius was quiet, after all, he had thinking to do, which was why he woke early, and he couldn't very well think if a chatterbox was stalking him. "Did you eat?" he asked his student.

 "No, not yet." Aquarius shook his head, supposing his sensei wasn't much of a talker either.

 Neji led the genin into the café, 'What do you want?'

 "Dunno, porridge, I guess." Aquarius shrugged and after he got his bowl, he started spooning the porridge into his mouth as an excuse to avoid further conversation.

            For the first time, Sasuke came to the horror that he overslept, thankfully, his speed increased greatly over the last few months, so he skipped breakfast and made the record time in thirty seconds to the Ninja Academy.

 Sephiroth Sekimb, the kid with the 5 ft. long katana and Aburame Kinji, Shino's little brother were the only ones there; Uchiha Maki was nowhere to be seen.

 "Good morning, Sasuke-sensei. Oops!" Sekimb greeted him courteously, narrowly missing Sasuke's head as his giant sword flew out of control.

 "Morning," Sasuke yawned, catching the flying weapon in midair and handing it back to him,

" Don't try that, you are going to get hurt; where's Maki?"

 "He went off to buy something." Kinji spoke up timidly, playing with a couple of ladybugs.

"There he is."

 Maki ran up to them, his usually pale face red from running, "Sorry," he panted breathlessly,

"I had to run an errand for my mother."

 "Just don't be late next time, kid." Sasuke dismissed the apology with a wave of his hand,

"You're all here now, so we might as well start."

            Naruto woke to find Sajito shaking him roughly, "What the hell?" he demanded.

 "Dad, its seven, and Brad and Jin are already in the living room waiting for you." Sajito answered nervously.

 "I told them eight." Naruto murmured sleepily into his pillow, "Wake me in an hour or something."

 "You said eight, Dad, I heard you." Sajito grinned slightly, "Come on."

 "Oh, fine, don't wake your Mum, though." Naruto groaned as he sat up, "Go tell them I'll be out in a few minutes."

 Jin was apparently engrossed in an orange paperback book when Naruto walked in, the buff redhead boy looked up, "Hi, Naruto-sensei."

 Sao Brad stopped pacing and flopped down on an armchair, "hey, sensei, took you long enough. May we begin now?" he brushed a few strands of his blonde hair out of his eyes.

 "Sure," Naruto nodded, "Sajito, grab that sack of baseballs lying over there and follow me."

 Sajito dragged the bag out from under the couch, it was much heavier than he thought.

"Dad, what do you have in here?"

 "Baseballs." Naruto gave his young son a penetrating look, "Is it too heavy for you?"

 "Don't worry, Sajito-kun, I'll help you." Brad slung the bag easily over his shoulder, "This is pretty light, actually."

  Sajito followed his friend, staring down at his shoes, Jin had not seen any of this, he was still reading…(Come Come Paradise cough)

            Hyuga Hotaru, the daughter of Neji stared in utter disgust at her teammate, Hatake Ainami.

 Ainami was prancing around at talking nonsense, mostly stupid quotes from her uncle's favorite book, "…….."  (fill in the blanks.)

 Hotaru sighed in annoyance and fingered her new bandages, "Hey, shut up."

 Ainami stopped in mid prance, her chocolate brown eyes wide, "What?"

 " I said, shut up." Hotaru repeated calmly, clenching her fist, "I'm not afraid to hurt you."

 Ainami stuck out her tongue, she looked very much like Kakashi, save the Sharingan and the mask, "Make me," she taunted, "Uncle Kakashi won't let you. Psycho."

 "Uncle Kakashi won't see his darling niece get hurt." Hotaru promised, grabbing Ainami's neck in a deathgrip. "he's not here."

 "Hotaru." Neji suddenly appeared behind his daughter, along with Aquarius, "I'm getting very tired of telling you to keep your hands to yourself." He scolded sternly.

 "Sorry, Dad." Hotaru looked down at her shoes, "She was bugging me."

  "Well, well, and you must be Kakashi's niece." Neji turned and looked at Ainami, who immediately shrank, "I'll overlook your fault just this once." He checked his watch and pointed at a statue stationed at the entrance of the forest, "You see that Statue over there?"

 "Yeah, so?" Ainami heaved a sigh of relief, "What are we s'pose to do, climb it?"

 "Exactly." Neji smirked, "Whoever doesn't reach the top in two hours will be punished." He added, after a moments thought, "Quite severely too, not to mention."

            Sasuke led his team to the edge of a sheer cliff overlooking Konoha, "Ninjas must learn how to protect themselves before protecting others, so you must learn how to fall correctly from high places."

 "So you want us to jump off the cliff for practice?" Maki was getting a very bad feeling about all this, he'd never like bungee jumping very much either.

 "You crazy, Sasuke-sensei?" Sekimb put in, "We're gonna die like that."

 Sasuke's eyes flashed momentarily, but then sank back to their regular stoic seriousness,

"I'll just pretend I didn't hear that, Sekimb." He answered calmly, "Watch, I'm only going to do this once." And with that he jumped over.

 "Hey, sensei?" Kinji called over the ledge, "Are you all right?"

 "I'm alive." Sasuke smirked, "What else? More importantly, I'm in one piece." He looked up,

"Come on, you cowards."

  "I'll go first then." The veins of Kinji's temples popped slightly.

 "Are you sure its safe?" Maki asked anxiously.

 "I have sources…" Kinji sauntered over the edge, a swarm of bees came to his rescue and so he was safely landed. "See, that wasn't so hard."

 "If that stupid jerk can do it, so can I." Sekimb tried to seem more confident than he felt, because jumping off a cliff for practice was not his idea of fun. Pulling his half torn cape over his head in hopes of using it as a parachute, but it failed miserably. He still managed to land flat on his ass. "Ow," he groaned, "My ass…"

 "Not bad." Sasuke approved, "At least you landed whole."

 Maki gulped, he couldn't use his Sharingan well yet, but he had seen how Sasuke fell… "Here goes." He swallowed again.

 There was a sickening crack as Maki landed, "Oh, god…"

 "Its just sprained," Sasuke pronounced after a brief examination, "Put some ice on it, it'll

be fine after a few hours." Turning to Kinji and Sekimb, he said, "You two, will continue to practicing, and Kinji, no bugs this time."

 Kinji grinned slightly, "Don't worry, sensei, I won't…"

 "And Sekimb, the parachute trick won't work again."

 "Yes, sensei." Sekimb nodded.

            "Now," said Naruto, after stopping them on the plain beside Akagahara. "You three are all remotely intelligent, so if I pelt baseballs at you, it is only normal that you guys would dodge, right?"

 "Right." Brad looked at him strangely, "So you're going to throw baseballs at us? But there's only one of you and three of us…"

 "I—" Naruto broke off when he spotted Jin reading quietly, perhaps a little too quietly in a corner, "Jin, why the hell aren't you listening?"

 "Oh, uh," the redhead looked up, "I was…studying."

 "That's what I thought." Naruto snatched the book away, "Hey, isn't this Kakashi's?" after leafing through the first chapter with undisguised interest, he stuffed it into his backpack,

"Kage bunshin No Jutsu!" Seven more Narutos appeared behind the original one, "Now, let's get down to business."

 Then it started, baseballs started flying everywhere, Sajito had thought he had time to perform the Byukagan and have some chance of deflecting the baseballs, but it now seemed that his father had no mercy, even for him. Sajito had already been injured in several places, and those pitches weren't regular pitches either, he now knew Naruto wasn't kidding when he said that a Shinobi's life was a hard one.

 Brad, on the other hand, was doing rather well, using one of his two swords as a baseball bat to reflect the balls, his dad had given him his swords, his family would be very proud if they knew the interesting ways he was inventing to use the swords…

 Whap! A baseball pelted him in the head, serves him right for not paying attention.

 Jin, was fighting the barrage of baseballs in the old-fashioned way, punching and kicking as if nothing happened cause he was mad as hell about Naruto taking away his book, he was just getting to the good part too…

            Neji sat on a nearby rock, watching his three students attempting to scale the statue. They had a little less than 15 minutes left. Aquarius must have possessed great chakra in his arms, for the golden-eyed boy had managed to pierce the hard marble of the statue and was using that as leverage, it was not easy to pierce a stone that hard, but the kid made it seem as easy as slicing bread. Aquarius had just reached the right ear.

 His daughter, Hotaru, was doing less well, even though her method of getting around was just as effective, she had made dents for fingerholds in the marble from chakra. "Dad, how much time do we have left?" she called down to him.

 "15 minutes." He replied calmly. "Take your time, Hotaru-chan, don't worry." But if he knew his own daughter, taking her time would not suit her, for she was like Sakura, letting nothing get ahead of her…

 As for Ainami, Kakashi's niece or not, was a complete failure, she had only reached the kneecap of the giant figure, using her leather belt, "Hey, you!"

 "Me, Neji-sensei?" the silver-haired girl looked down at him blankly, "What is it?"

 "Come down here." Neji sighed, "Screw climbing for you, its obvious that either you aren't trying, or you're just hopelessly weak."

 Ainami landed neatly on her feet, "Uncle Kakashi won't let you hurt me!"

 "No, whoever said I was going to hurt you, hm?"

 Aquarius halted, watching the conversation with interest, Hotaru did the same.

 "Then what are you going to do to me?" Ainami asked, staring at Neji with the frightened

eyes of a child for the for the first time.

 "Nothing," Neji grinned slyly, "Run 30 laps before sundown and I might consider letting you go home."

  "30?" Aquarius repeated in shock, "That's a bit much…"

 "Just like Dad to be crazy." Hotaru smirked to herself, "Ainami won't walk for weeks after this…"

            "Hey, Kinji, I said no bugs!" bellowed Sasuke as Kinji was rescued by butterflies once again.

 "Sensei, butterflies aren't bugs." Kinji struggled to his feet, "They're insects."

 "Sekimb stretched out on the grass, "Its painful."

 "You kids," Sasuke shook his head, "You call yourself ninjas?"

 Maki winced, "But—"

 "Oy!" someone called, "Sasuke!"

 He turned and saw Naruto, "Aren't you suppose to be training?"

 "Its their break now." Naruto plunked himself under a tree beside Maki, "I might've hit them a bit too hard with those baseballs, Sajito cracked a rib."

 "Did you send him to the medical center?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes, he never approved the way Naruto handled his son, not that it was any of his business…

 "No, he fell asleep." Naruto surveyed the training grounds, "What have you been doing all morning, huh?"

 "Nothing, absolutely nothing." Sasuke glared at his three students each in turn, "Geez you three…Naruto, I'll fight you?"

 "Say what?" Naruto whirled around, "You want a fight? Seriously?"

 "Yeah, if you die its not my fault." Sasuke nodded, "It would be a lesson for our students, after all."

 "BAKA!" Naruto exploded

 "Well, Naruto, we'll see who's baka after this." His friend and rival twirled a shuriken absent-mindedly in his hands and hurled it at Naruto's head, pinning the back of the blonde jounin's shirt to a tree, "You'll just stay that way until Sekimb comes back with yours."

 "Hey!" screamed Naruto, "Let me go!"

 "Kinji," Sasuke beckoned to the junior version of Shino, save the sunglasses, "You can play with your bugs now."

 "Gladly."

            Brad, seeing both of his comrades were occupied, was now officially bored, he had finished his rice balls ages ago. And he was too wired up to rest. Sajito was passed out from the pain of his cracked rib, and Jin was once again happy, wolfing down pepperoni pizza and reading the book that he had jacked from Naruto-sensei's backpack.

 "Hey, you!" Brad turned to see a guy holding a huge sword running full speed at him. "My name is Sekimb, is your sensei Uzumaki Naruto?"

 "Uh, yeah." Brad swerved out of the way of the weapon, "Don't run me through with that thing, okay? What do you want?"

 "Naruto and Sasuke-sensei are going to fight." Sekimb ran a hand nervously through his dark hair, "I thought you guys would like to watch."

 "Watch what?" Jin looked up from  his book and pizza, "Wha- I mean, who are you?"

 "Sephiroth Sekimb." The boy bowed politely.

 "What do you want then, Sephers?" Jin looked at him coolly.

 "Naruto-sensei and Sasuke-sama are gonna fight." Brad told him excitely, lets go watch!"

 "Gotta wake the other kid up first though."  Jin turned and shook Sajito awake, "Hey, kid, wake up!"

 Sajito sat up, groaning, "What, where's my dad?" he clutched his ribs and winced.

 "We're going to see him now." Jin slung Sajito over his shoulder, "geez, you're light."

 Sekimb put his sword away and stood up, "Let's go then.

 "Yo, Sekimb!" Kinji sauntered up to them, "Forget the fight, its already over, Sasuke-sensei knocked Naruto out in 15 seconds flat."

Notes: That's it, well, I don't update that much, about once a week or two weeks because these chapters take a long time to write. Coming up next is Team Shino and Shikamaru. I can't really think of a storyline for the girls yet. Advice welcomed!


	3. Misssions pt 2

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto or the characters you guys created (I HATE REPEATING!)

Notes: Does this sound like a humor fic? Cuz its not suppose to be this amusing. Um, this chap focuses on Team Shikamaru and Team Shino. I can see that people are mad at me for Naruto losing to Sasuke in 15 seconds, but hey, life's not fair, (I'll just make Sasuke lose sometime against Naruto, everybody wins and loses in the fic. Sasuke's victory just came early.) and don't ask me how Sasuke got so many cousins, because I don't know and I don't feel like explaining, so there! =P (for the jutsus I used mostly English names sometimes Japanese, by the way.) sorry if this chap is dull, I kinda rush through it

Missions Pt. 2

Alright, alright," Shikamaru grumbled, "Who the hell is it? Geez, its nine thirty in the morning!"

"It's us, Shikamaru-sensei." Called two voices, "It's Shorai Natsu and Nohashii Mizu."

"Oh, its you scumbags." Shikamaru yawned as he opened the door, "Where's the other guy, whatever his name is?"

"We don't know where Seiya-kun is, he's usually late anyhow." Mizu was hopping about excitedly on one foot, her blue eyes shining as she stared at her sensei with anticipation, "What're we going to do?"

"Take a nap." Shikamaru answered promptly, "Get lost."

Mizu instantly shrank outside, but Natsu pulled her back inside, "Gosh, Mizu-chan, loosen up a little, will you?" the older girl hissed, "He's just kidding, there's a thing called sarcasm, you know?"

"This is so troublesome." Shikamaru yawned again, "Why don't you two go look for Seiyu, or Seiya, or whatever his name is and wake me when you do?" he sniffed delicately, "What stinks?"

"I think Seiya-kun is here" Natsu wrinkled her nose in disgust, "You can always tell by the smell."

"Morning, all." A guy in a white radiation suit appeared in Shikamaru's door, engulfed in what seemed to be stinkbomb gas, "Can't you set a later meeting time next time, I had to set my alarm clock for 9:00! That's early!"

"A kid after my own heart." Shikamaru stretched out on the couch and produced his biggest yawn yet. "But, hey, Kakashi is going to be after me if I don't teach you guys anything. So let's go."

The Aburame brothers, Kinji and Shino, were engaged in a fierce game of shooting kunais at the targets pinned on the door.

Suddenly, two boys burst in, one was wearing a dark blue shirt with a sword strapped to his back, the other boy had black layered bangs and carried no weapons except for the traditional pouch at the waist. "Oh, crap!" they yelled at the same time as they both ducked to avoid the kunais that was aimed at their heads.

Shino stood up, "Well, well, you two could've knocked, then we would've known not to kill you."

"Sorry, Shino-sensei." The long-haired boy bowed politely, "Max pushed me, and we kinda lost our balance. I'm Lee Taichi."

"I didn't push you!" shouted Max, "You're such a klutz that you tripped over the doorstop.

"I don't remember us having a doorstop." Kinji scratched his head as he looked skeptically at Max, "My brother has always been too lazy to install one, and plus, the door wasn't open. Are you sure you didn't push him?"

Max flushed a deep red, "Um, well…I…"

"Never mind." Shino answered lightly, "Where's the girl?"

"Ali said she'd meet us at the bridge." Taichi said, "She said she didn't want to come here."

"Since when are you two so chummy?" Max smirked.

"No, we just…ran into each other early this morning, that's all." Taichi looked down at his shoes.

"Damn it, you two, stop arguing already." Kinji sighed, "You're giving me a headache, I thought you guys would've outgrown that after the Academy."

"Whatever." Shino thought his two students acted just like Sasuke and Naruto so many years ago… "Let's just go, whoever says another word will get it."

Max and Taichi nodded silently as they followed Shino out the door.

"So," Shikamaru settled himself comfortably under the shade of a large elm tree, "First thing you should know about me is that I'm the laziest guy in Konoha and I hate doing stuff."

"Then why are you even teaching us?" Mizu demanded, "How am I suppose to become strong and win competitions to get enough money for my Mommy?"

"Calm down, Mizu-chan." Natsu put a hand reassuringly on the little girl's shoulder as she glared at Shikamaru, "What the hell do you think you are?"

"A bum." Shikamaru replied readily, "Fine. Damn, its so troublesome." He got to his feet, "What would you three like to learn?"

"Kawarmiri No Jutsu!" Mizu piped up.

"Ino-san 's mind transfer technique." Natsu said.

"Nothing." Seiya lay down, using his backpack as a pillow, " I don't care, I'm going to sleep now, no one bother me, or else I will kick your ass."

"You smell." Shikamaru pinched his nose, "I don't have a problem with you sleeping, but at least find a motel that's 500 miles away where we won't smell you."

"I can't help it." Seiya closed his eyes, "I've always been too lazy to take a bath."

"Ewww…" Mizu gagged, "Did you have to tell us that?"

"He asked, brat, it's not my fault." Seiya began to snore.

"Why can't you two follow his example?" grumbled Shikamaru, "Whatever, you, little girl." He pointed to Mizu, "I'll teach you first. Since that jutsu doesn't require much anyway."

Kuromori Ali smoothed her unruly black hair anxiously and pinned it back into a messy bun, her eyes were of an unearthly clear white, not the eyes of a Hyuga, but those that were descended from the Kuromori Clan, as legendary as the Uchihas were some 20 years ago.

"Ali!" Taichi rushed up to her, breathing hard, and Max was right on his heels, "Did you wait long?"

"Not really, Tai." Ali shook her head, "I just got here, my brother made me cook breakfast."

"I hate it when my sisters make me do stuff for them." Agreed Taichi, "Well, but at least we got time off from them today."

"Ahem," Shino coughed pointedly, "I will teach you three separately today, since you each have different needs. Ali-chan will go first, it is only fair, after all." Gesturing to Max and Tai, he said, "Just hang around, and don't get in trouble."

Shino led Ali away to a little clearing a few yards away. "Well, show me what you can do."

Ali stared hard at her sensei, a strange mist covering her eyes, then suddenly in one fluid movement, extracted three kunais from her pouch and threw them all at Shino, one at his heart, and the other two at the chakra points on his neck. "Take this!"

Shino dodged the attack easily, "You're pretty fast for a genin." He commented. "Now, I will test your endurance." He summoned an army of spiders, "Let's see you get out of that."

Ali closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her eyes changed into a cold icy blue as she shouted, " Water Prison No Jutsu!" and a water bubble surrounded the spiders, leaving them trapped.

"Very good," Shino approved, "Now, if you just concentrate more chakra into your throwing arm, it'd be a lot better, and I can see that you have the eyes…"

"I'll try to do that." Ali nodded.

"And also try not to be so unsure of yourself on the seals," Shino continued, "I'll be checking on you." Beckoning Max forward he said, "You're up, Max."

"First off, do you even know what Kwaramiri is, Mizu?" Shikamaru looked down at the little girl, "Cause if you do, it will save a hell lot of time."

Mizu was indignant, "I do!" she glared at him coldly, "I just don't know how to do it."

"If you don't know how to do such a basic jutsu, why the hell did Chouji ever let you graduate?" Shikamaru murmured to himself, "How troublesome, the fatass might as well eat his own brain." Out loud, he said, "Can you do Bunshin, at least?"

"Yeah! I'll show you!" Mizu willed all her chakra into her open palms and did the seal rather clumsily, "Bunshin No Jutsu!"

Shikamaru was surprised, the brat actually managed to do cloning, "Good enough, now, in order to replace yourself with a nearby item, you must think like that item."

"What?" Mizu looked about, confused, "I can't think like a tree. Shikamaru sensei."

"No, you don't think like a tree." Shikamaru sighed with exasperation, "You wish you were a tree, and you perform the seal."

"How do you do the seal?" Mizu asked.

"Like this, watch, I'm only gonna do this once." Shikamaru went through the seal with infinite slowness. Mizu actually kept up quite well, "Good enough."

"Yay!" she jumped up and down, "I did it! I did it!"

"Don't celebrate too soon." Shikamaru yawned and stretched, "You still have to try it out. Once, Chouji was such a blockhead that when he performed the jutsu, he left half of himself behind."

"Are you talking about Chouji-sensei?" Natsu spoke, reminding them of her presence, "Can you really do that?"

"Anything can happen if you're not careful enough." Seiya mumbled sleepily, "Can you guys quiet down a little? I'm trying to sleep."

"Exactly." Shikamaru nodded, "Personally, I think kids these days waste too much energy, it's just so troublesome. Chouji looked like an idiot with his head on top of the tree."

"Here I go!" Mizu breathed deeply, as she concentrated fiercely on a dead twig beside Seiya, "Kwaramiri No Jutsu!" a moment later, a puff of smoke surrounded her and she disappeared.

"Good job, Mizu-chan." Natsu congratulated her warmly when she appeared again, "Your mother would've been proud."

"Geez." Shikamaru wondered when this day would be over…

Ali retreated beside Taichi as Max stepped up, "You know, Max, I had a word with Tensei yesterday." Shino said conversationally. "He said you suck at interpreting Ginjutsu. So I'm going to train with you on that instead of the third stance, since I'm not much of a weapon user."

"What?" Max could hardly believe his ears, "But I can't see through Ginjutsu, that's why I've been picking up speed."

"Well," Said Shino in a matter-of-factly way, "There's a reason that I'm doing this, you cannot always depend on your strength, on your speed. You're going to run out of energy sometime, so you have to learn to see through the technique."

"Fine," Max heaved a sigh as he sheathed his sword.

"Just a warning." Shino added, "This ginjutsu is a fairly advanced one, so it's okay if you don't see through it, but if you do, that's good."

"Okay." Max glanced around nervously.

"Kokuangyo No Jutsu! (Bringer of darkness)" Shino stepped back as a dark cloud enveloped Max.

Max, in turn, was horrified to find himself in the dark, "What the hell…" he gripped his sword tightly as his eyes searched vainly for some kind of escape and finding none. Closing his eyes to calm himself, he remembered what his dad had said about warding off Ginjutsu, "_You must not be afraid of whatever your eyes see, for it is not real."_

A minute later, the fog cleared and sunlight came flooding back into his vision, "Did I see through it?" he asked hopefully.

"No, but you were beginning to." Shino, even though you couldn't see, was smiling, "Good job for a day's work. Now, do a stance fusion."

"Gladly." Max whipped out his sword with ease, and started with a giant cleave, that nearly knocked the wind out of him, followed by a left jab, and a swift upper thrust aiming at the eye.

"You may rest now." Shino stopped him after 20 minutes, "Save the cleave for the end."

Mizu sat down on the grass as far as possible from Seiya, who was once again snoring his head off, and watched with interest as Natsu and Shikamaru started their training.

"Aren't you a Shorai?" Shikamaru studied the brown-haired girl closely, "You don't look like one."

"I am." Natsu's eyes flashed dangerously, "I can see, just not very much."

"Can you?" Shikamaru sounded skeptical, "Just for the hell of it then, what will Kakashi be doing at 4:30 tomorrow?"

"He'll be…" Natsu's voice trailed off as a hazy vision swam into her head, with much concentration. It showed Kakashi (or Hokage) sitting at his dining room table with Kurenai beside him, drinking beer. "Drinking beer with his girlfriend."

"Interesting." Shikamaru cocked an eyebrow, "Now, you want to learn Ino's technique, huh?"

Natsu nodded eagerly.

"I don't know how to teach you that." Shikamaru sat down on the grass, "I don't bother to try, ask Ino to teach you or something."

"You're a sensei." Natsu reminded him.

"I'm also the world's laziest bum." Shikamaru corrected, "I happened to like that."

"I'm going to tell hokage." Natsu threatened, "You're gonna get fired."

"Try, I want you to." Shikamaru looked through half-closed eyes, "Trust me you're not the first one that tried."

"At least teach me something."

"It's not really that hard," Shikamaru sighed with exasperation, "All you do is try to penetrate someone's mind. But you also have to be careful; cause stronger ninjas have lost their lives trying this move. Train your mind first, teach it to overcome the normal obstacles of stress and trauma. Teach your mind not to care."

"What do you mean people have died learning this?" Natsu asked, "That's not possible, is it?"

"Some people have violent minds, and their ways to resist you will be sometimes deadly." Shikamaru answered, "And if you are hurt in their body, your own body will also be hurt." He lay down, using a rock as a pillow, "Meditate now, and don't bother me."

Taichi could feel all eyes on him as he stepped forward next to Shino. "What do you want me to do, Shino-sensei?"

"Fight me, I want to see what you can do." Shino said quietly, fixing the boy with a penetrating gaze, "Though I heard you use mostly Taijutsu?"

"Er, yeah." Taichi nodded nervously, "Is that okay?"

"As long as you don't die." Shino shrugged.

"All right then…" Taichi assumed a defensive stance as he secured his bangs behind his ears, "I'm ready."

"Doton: Doryo Dango! (Mud dumpling)" Shino reached down and grabbed a large piece of earth, which fire ants instantly infested, and hurled it at Taichi.

Taichi jumped up and released his own barrage of kunai at his sensei, but even if the mudball missed its target, the ants refused to be beaten, they attached themselves to Taichi's oversized blue shirt, "Kwaramiri No Jutsu!"

"A little late." Shino commented as Taichi once again appeared beside him covered in scars, "You should've prepared that one sooner."

Taichi winced slightly, "You said I could fight my way."

"I did, but you don't really have to be that rash." Shino glanced at him, "Hold still, the ants are poisoned." Kneeling down, bright blue chakra glowed from his fingertips, pressing the injured forearm gently, Taichi's wounds instantly closed and healed, "You did well, but just think next time."

A/N: Yeah…I have nothing else to say, I'll try to update soon.


	4. Missions pt 3

Disclaimer: I DON"T OWN NARUTO OR THE CHARACTERS THAT YOU CREATED!!!!

Notes: Featuring Team Sakura, Ino, and Hinata. To AirSalad: You really have issues, why are you reviewing if you hate me? Sheesh…oh, yeah, one thing, um later on I'm going to need 6 sand chuunins so you guys can just send that to me via email: lilasianviolinistyahoo.com. Thankies, now, moving on, the girls are just gonna have a regular training/ sparring day. Sorry if I took a long time, this chapter was extremely hard to write because some of the personalities were exactly the same.

To Air-Salad: Me being a very civilized person, I am not going to say anything except that you have issues.

To LaZy hyuuGa: The review board does turn kinda like a war zone, and I didn't flame you on your fic, just to make that clear.

Missions, Pt. 3

"Sakura-sensei?" someone tapped her shoulder, "Can we begin now?"

She turned to face Ryuuchi Shikari and Yamamoto Akiko, "Err, where's Fei-chan?"

Shikari ran a hand through her waist-length black hair, which she had tied back with a wide ribbon, "Dunno, Fei's always late, even though she hates latecomers."

"But I think she'll be here soon enough." Akiko took out a comic from her matching pink knapsack and began to flip through it, "After all, it's, like, the first day of training."

Sakura studied the two genins closely, "So, all right then, we'll go as soon as she gets here." Sitting cross-legged on the grass, she added, "We'll be having an easy day today anyway."

Suddenly, Sasuke flew past, "Morning, Sakura."

"Morning, Sasuke-kun." She responded, eyebrows raised, for Sasuke never seemed to be flustered about anything at all.

"Hey, Sakura-sensei, didn't you use to like Sasuke-sama?" Akiko peered at her over the book. "He's good looking."

"Kind of." Sakura admitted, wishing her face wasn't burning, "But that was then."

"Why do you people always care so much about who's with who?" Shikari looked over at her sensei with a bored expression, "It's a waste of time, anyhow."

"Hey!" called a new voice.

"That would be Fei, all right." Shikari confirmed as a girl wearing a lavender knit top rushed up to them, to the newcomer, she said, "As usual, Fei, always the late one, aren't you?"

Fei, breathing hard, sank down to her knees next to Sakura, "S-sorry, Sensei, I overslept." She apologized.

"It's okay." Sakura patted the girl's shoulder comfortingly, "Let's go now."

Akiko stood up, smoothing down her light pink miniskirt as she did, "Where?"

"Into the forest," Sakura pointed east to the clump of trees.

Azuki Riku leaned against a tree and sighed; she twisted her thick braided hair into a bun on top of her head and let it fall, "Ino-sensei?"

"Yes?" Ino looked up into the little girl's bright violet eyes, "What?"

"Do you…"

"Hey, sensei, Riku-chan." Hyuga Rain, the oldest child in the Main House, followed by Uchiha Ayame made their way over to them. "So, what are we gonna do today, huh?"

"Damn this is boring." Ayame twirled her silver earrings and stared at Riku in undisguised disgust, "So, you actually finished doing your hair this morning, that's a first."

Riku felt her face flush, "Be quiet, Ayame."

"Make me," the older girl taunted, "You're so goddamn sexy that you forget how to fight."

"Son of a bitch!" Riku shot back, "I'll beat you any day."

"Shut up, both of you." Hyuga Rain stared at them with a jaded expression in her pale grey eyes, "This is annoying."

Ayame glared at Riku, but said nothing more, she was raised in Sasuke's charge, therefore acted like him, developing a dislike for girls who think too much of how they looked. "Whatever."

Rain, on the other hand, was Hanabi's oldest daughter, therefore now the heir of the Hyuga clan, Hinata had married an outsider (Naruto) so her son was cast out, because half-blood was considered impure. She was often seen clothed in a plain white shirt and black pants; only on occasions did she bother about her appearance.

"Oy! Ino!" it was Sakura, followed by her three genins.

"Hello, Sakura." Ino returned coolly, "What are you doing here?"

"We were going to train here," Sakura looked hard at the blonde, "Since you're not doing anything worthwhile here, leave."

"Ugly forehead." Ino scoffed, "Why the hell do I have to listen to you?"

"We were here first!" Riku stuck out her tongue at the newcomers.

"Gosh, people." Shikari said at last, "This is so first grade, why don't we all just train here, if it seems to be everyone's favorite spot?"

17 years ago, Hinata remembered being scared out of her wits during the night before the first day of training with Kurenai, but now she was a Jounin, a sensei, at that, time sure flew.

"Hinata-sensei, do you mind if we start now?" a voice pulled her back into the present. It was Inuzuka Nyoko, Kiba's oldest, and only daughter.

"Sorry," she said apologetically, "Is everyone here yet?"

"Nope, I haven't seen Kai-kun." Ketsueki Shinri shook her head, "But we should really start without him, by the time he gets here, it'll be night."

"Now, do you really want to repeat that to my face, Ketsueki-san?" a figure emerged behind her.

"Kai-kun," Shinri whirled around, "Since when did you…"

"I've been there." Kai was a boy gifted with deep eyes of midnight black, at least that was what everyone thought, for his left eye was covered by his waist-length hair, which was highlighted with natural streaks of blue and no one ever saw it.

As hard as she tried to keep her near-surfaced temper in check, Shinri hated being provoked, "You…" she balled her fingers tightly into a fist.

"Hey, um, guys…" Nyoko could feel the tension snapping between her two companions. "Not now, please?"

"Shut up, Nyoko." Shinri retorted, "Keep out of this."

"She's right," Hinata surprised herself by the commanding words that left her lips, "Stop it, now."

Both genins paid her no mind as they continued with their fierce stare down, neither moving, just watching the other.

Suddenly, Kai lashed out, grabbing Shinri's arm and twisted it behind her while extracting a kunai from his pouch; in doing so, revealing the thin snaking scar that encircled his wrist.

Hinata gasped, "You…Kai…"

But Nyoko had had enough, wrenching the struggling Shinri away from Kai, "You baka."

"Okay," Ayame looked to Sakura and then back to Ino, "I hope you plan something somewhat interesting."

"We're going to climb trees." Sakura and Ino announced at the same time after a moment's thought, "Hey, stop mimicking me!"

Akiko, who had sharp eyes, blurted out, "Hinata-sama's coming with her genins too!"

Ino and Sakura groaned in unison.

"I didn't realize we were going to have company." Kai commented dryly as he surveyed the scene.

"Kai-kun!" Akiko's eyes instantly lit up, "I didn't expect you to be here!"

Shinri just glared at everyone in general and shrank back behind a tree.

"Hey." Nyoko greeted her friends cheerfully, "Nice day, isn't it?"

Ino pulled Hinata and Sakura aside, "I was here first!" she planted her hands firmly on her hips, "So you two leave!"

"Really, Ino." Sakura eyed her 'friend' with a tired expression, "This field isn't related to Sasuke-kun."

"Since we're all here, why don't we just, you know, have our students spar against each other or something?" Hinata volunteered shyly, "That way…we would know their strong points and weak points…" her voice trailed off hopefully.

"Yeah…" Ino and Sakura nodded their agreement, "That would be useful…"

"What are you three whispering about?" Rain demanded.

"There's a change in the lesson plan today." Sakura, perhaps for the first time, grinned wickedly.

"WHAT??" everyone shouted at the same time, "WE are going to do WHAT???"

"Fight." Hinata repeated calmly, since this whole thing was her idea after all, Neji's attitude must've started to influence her too, "It will be a taste of the chuunin exam you guys will have to take."

"There's no way in hell I'm fighting a girl!" Kai complained, "Where's the rest of the guys?"

"You won't have to." Hinata shot him a penetrating gaze, "I will fight you."

"WHAT?" everyone gasped.

"But that's later." Ino cut in quickly, "Who's first, huh?"

Surprisingly, Hyuga Rain and Ayame both raised their hands. "We'll go." They got to their feet and faced each other on the wooded plain.

"Remember," Sakura voiced the rules, "No killing, and no cheating."

"This match will be interesting." Kai said quietly to himself, "They're pretty good, after all."

"Who do you think will win?" Akiko asked eagerly.

"I dunno, both have their advantages, after all."

"Shut up." Shinri shot them a cold glare.

"Begin." Ino commanded.

"Well, well." Ayame stared at her opponent, "If anything, I say this will be fun."

"Indeed." Rain assumed the well-known Hyuga stance, "Byukagan!" a flash of white.

"Sharingan!" a flash of red.

"Here!" Out of nowhere, Ayame hurled a giant shuriken toward Rain.

The Hyuga girl countered with three kunais of her own that knocked the weapon off course. "You're gonna have to fight harder than that, whore."

"Who are you calling whore?" Ayame demanded, "Shadow Wind Mill!"

"Fool." The Hyuga girl grinned to herself, "You're not the only one who can see." Stretching out her hand, Rain caught the shuriken, even though it scraped her hand badly. Wincing, she dropped the weapon and clutched her hand.

Ayame took this opportunity to charge, she ran straight at Rain, poised to strike. "Take this!"

The hit was aimed at the shoulder, and there was a sickening sucking sound."

_Blood, their blood…_

Ino looked to Hinata and Sakura, they both inclined their heads, "That will be enough."

Both were not seriously hurt, it always could've been worse, after applying ointment to their injuries, Hinata announced they would continue the mock exam, "Who's next?"

"I'll go!" Akiko waved her hand enthusiastically, eager to prove herself in front of Kai-kun.

"I will too!" Riku jumped to her feet.

"Hey, Azuki-san." Kai called to her lazily, "Just a word of advice, Yamamoto's attacks won't hurt if you move it."

'Wha—" Riku stared at him for a minute, "Thank you, Kai-san."

Akiko smoothed down her brunette pigtails as she fell gracefully into fighting stance, "You're Riku, right?"

Riku nodded stiffly. "Yeah, so?"

"I'm so gonna kick your ass without breaking a nail!"

"Begin." Ordered Sakura.

Tension just seemed to cackle in the air as always. "Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!" Riku cried suddenly, and five clones appeared beside her.

"Five times the defeat." Akiko sneered. "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!"

A stream of fire shot out of her mouth aiming directly at Riku's stomach.

"Careful, Riku-chan." Called Ino worriedly. "There's shurikens!"

"Can we stop?" Shinri looked bored, "This is really retarded."

Nyoko glanced at her, "Geez, show a bit of cooperation, at least."

"Shut up." Shinri appeared vexed, "Really though, can't we do something worthwhile?"

"Ketsueki-san," Kai turned to her with a bemused expression in his eyes, "If you think fighting these chicks are below you, you can just fight me instead, and then it'll be worth your time, right?"

"Are you flirting with me, Kai-kun?" Shinri narrowed her eyes, "Quit it."

"Trust me, flirting with you is below me." Kai smirked.

The conversation ceased as a loud crash emitted from the battlefield. "What the—"

It seemed that the match was pretty much over with Akiko whole and Riku's arm twisted at a strange angle. Shikari was kneeling beside Riku with a worried expression, "Are you okay?"

"So it ends, isn't it?" Hinata surveyed the scene, using one of Neji's favorite lines. "Maybe this is a little dangerous."

"Hinata-san, isn't Neji starting rub off of you?" Ino asked with a sly grin.

"Uh, I mean, I guess this isn't the thing to do during our first mission, maybe we should've done something more something boring…" Hinata looked around uncertainly.

"Maybe we should send someone to get the genins missions, Kakashi says they've been piling up lately…" Sakura stared around and saw Fei skulking around behind a tree, "Hey, Fei-chan!"

"Wha--, I mean, are you talking to me, Sakura-sensei?" the girl turned, "What do I have to do?"

"I want you go and ask Hokage-sama for some missions, oh, and make sure they're D-ranked."

"Hey, Fei, if you're nervous I could go with you." Nyoko volunteered cheerfully, "Come on."

"If you don't mind, I'll tag along too." Akiko stood up.

"Missions, eh?" Kakashi looked mildly interested as he popped a handful of popcorn into his mouth and continued reading, "Welll…"

"Spit it out already, old man." Nyoko said half-jokingly, "Do we get missions or no?"

"Oh, yeah, take your pick, there's plenty of shit whatsoever." Kakashi gestured rather carelessly toward the pile of papers on his desk, "Take whatever you want to."

"Hm, lessee here…" Akiko shifted the papers and looked through them with interest, "We could go dog walking or something for Lee-san's cocker-spaniels.

"Just how many does he have that it requires a genin's service?" Nyoko asked, looking skeptical.

"Dunno, it says here about 12.it has all their names too…Hari, Hura, Haru, Hara…" Akiko droned on.

"Skip it." Fei yawned, as she too, picked up of piece of paper, "Hey, this one looks interesting, its about a kid that always get beat up at school."

"I'll do that one." Nyoko snatched the paper from her without any form of courtesy, "Kai'd like that after all, fighting's his special."

"Hey, are you alright, Riku-chan?" Shkari asked for like the millionth time.

"Fine, just fine, goddammit all." Riku grimaced, "Stop it." She grinned weakly, her eyes closed. "I'm fine, don't worry about me."

"How're you two?" Shikari turned to Ayame and Rain.

"Shit, Ryuuchi-san, you worry too much." Rain sighed.

"Speaking of which, I never got my fight…" Kai looked rather vexed.

"Why do you care so much about that, sheesh," Shinri smirked.

A/N: Okay, okay, finally over, yes I know, crappy chapter, I think a lot of you are gonna flame for this one, but give me some slack, this is hard. Next chapter's gonna be a humorous one I guess…


	5. Back Home

Disclaimer: C'mon you people know that I don't own this stuff…

Notes: Okay, maybe this isn't funny as I thought it would be, maybe it's just depressing cuz I'm not in a good mood…oh, Also, this chap is about what the kids do when they got home, the ppl mentioned are: Uzumaki Sajito, Hatake Ainami, Hyuga Hotaru, Inuzuka Nyoko, Dakegi Max, and Nohashii Mizu and Uchiha Ayame. (In that order. Its because those characters had enough background for me to make something out of it.)

4. Back Home.

Sajito could see that his dad was definitely not pleased with him on the way home about the way he had acted in the day's training, "Dad…" he said quietly, "Are you mad?"

"Mad, no, disappointed, yes." Naruto turned sideways to look at his son, "But that's not your fault. How's your rib?"

"Still hurts a little, but not that much." Sajito answered, determined to put up a good front.

They had now reached their house at the edge of the village, as far away as possible from the Hyuga dwellings. Hinata had already arrived and was waving to them from the doorstep.

Sajito hung back some as he sought to approach his mother, "Hey, Mum."

"Hello, yourself." Hinata gave him a quick hug and stepped back, "How was it?"

Sajito was very glad she didn't squeeze him too tightly, for his rib was beginning to throb painfully once again, "It was okay, I guess." He mumbled, heading for the door.

"I hope you were not too harsh on him, Naruto-kun." Hinata turned to Naruto, "It's only their first day, you know."

"'Course not." Naruto bent down toward her and brushed his lips against hers, "After having Kakashi as a sensei, I learned the hard way."

"What's for dinner?" Sajito asked suddenly.

"Oh, um, rice balls." Hinata replied, blushing slightly. "They're your favorite, aren't they?"

"Err, yeah, thanks." Sajito managed a small smile, "I'm going to wash up." Leaving his parents alone, he trudged upstairs without much enthusiasm. Securely locking the bathroom door, he stared for a long while at himself in the mirror. He saw nothing but his own reflection, reflecting weakness, fear.

It wasn't that he didn't try to become strong. He tried plenty; it was just that he didn't have enough confidence, enough talent as his dad. Naruto could screw up and he would just laugh and curse himself just for the hell of it …it wasn't fair. Sajito splashed cool water on his face to refresh himself, but try as he might, couldn't refresh his spirit.

"Welcome home, Ai-chan." Kakashi opened the door. "How was your day, hm?"

"Neji-sensei's pretty cool, he's a bit wired up though." Ainami reported to her uncle, "I mean, he made climb this stupid statue, and he made me run thirty laps."

Instead of sympathy, which she expected, Kakashi beamed, "Oh, yes, that is a good start for you beginners, Neji actually did some thinking."

"But, he…" Ainami protested, "Hotaru tried to beat me up."

"Don't worry, I'll talk to him tomorrow." Kakashi patted her shoulder and sat back down to read, "Dinner's pizza, its in the microwave."

"Did you make the teams for the Jounin sensei's?" Ainami wanted to know, "Or did Chouji-sensei make them?"

"Chouji did." Kakashi put down his book again, "Why?"

"Just wondering." Ainami grinned childishly, "You know the other guy on my team?"

"Aquarius?"

"He's weird, can he talk?"

"Of course he can, according to you, Ai-chan, everybody's weird." The hokage ruffled her hair, "Go eat, now, or else I'll have to make you."

"You can't make me." Ainami stuck out her tongue.

"Can I?" Kakashi questioningly raised an eyebrow as he got to his feet, "Care to test that?"

"Uh, no." In the end, she still thought it was better to retreat inside the kitchen. "I'll go eat."

"I'm home, Mom." Hotaru called out as she entered and slammed the door.

Sakura came out and greeted her daughter cheerfully, "How was it, Hotaru-chan?" she looked around, "Where's your father?"

"Here." Neji appeared in a cloud of smoke behind her, "She did okay."

"I'm glad the kids didn't try to kill you, Neji-kun." Sakura said jokingly.

He spun around to face her, clasping her hard by the shoulder, a dangerous glint in his eyes, she had only seen that once and had hoped never to see it again, "You think they can kill me, Sakura?"

"Uh, no, I'm sorry." Sakura stammered, "I guess they can't."

"I'm going to wash up now." Neji departed abruptly.

"Um, okay, would you mind…" Hotaru stared questioningly at her mother, "What the hell is up with Dad?"

"I think he just had a bad day, he can get pissed." Sakura replied quickly. "Everybody can, you know, if anything…"

"You're not gonna tell me anything aren't you, Mom?" Hotaru sighed, "That's okay though, and he's probably pissed about Uncle Hiashi and all. I mean, he's such a bitch"

"Nice guess." Neji scoffed as he emerged from the bathroom, "That's not it, Sakura, never…"

"Yes."

Hotaru looked at Neji, then back at Sakura again, "Dad, you're not weak." She announced at some length. "Because if you believe that, you're stupid.

"Neji had to manage a smile for that.

Nyoko tripped over her brothers' many pairs of shoes as she came in the door, but three pairs were missing, that meant she wouldn't be cooking for a full house, thank God. Cooking for 8 males wasn't easy, at any rate. "Anyone home?"

"The whole gang." Her third oldest brother Yuki's head poked out of the fourth door on the right, "Akira forgot to wear his shoes."

"Baka." Nyoko smiled back, "He's the only one that'll make that mistake, "So, what'd he do for a substitute, eh?"

"He gambled for a pair of sandals, stupid, huh?" Yuki shrugged, "Apparently, he won." He held up a pair of pink sandals, "Too bad they're pink, otherwise…"

"Shut up about the stupid shoes already." Nyoko wiped her sweat off her forehead, "You people are gonna settle for sandwiches today, I'm tired."

"Don't worry, sis." Yuki said, "I'll help you, even though I can burn salad."

"I know you can, which is why you can wash the dishes." She smirked, "Get Akira to help me or something, at least he's not obsessed with blood and can slice ham."

"Sheesh, sis, cut me some slack. I don't even like ham." Yuki groaned, "I like pork better."

"Either way, its still pig meat." Nyoko sighed, "Go wash your hands."

"Too bad!" Screamed another brother, which happened to be Taku, "IT'S AN EMERGENCY!"

"Oh well." Nyoko sweatdropped, "There's always the sink in the kitchen."

Yuki followed his sister into the kitchen, only to find a tub of laundry soaking in the sink, "Ewww, I think those are Dad's." he held his nose.

"Well, uh, no, those are mine." Said another voice, it was the eldest brother Kansuke, "I forgot to put it in the wash last week, and I was out."

"Why the hell the sink?" Yuki dissed his older brother and dodged a punch, the punch went into the newly painted wall. "Oh, shit, it's not my fault."

Dakegi Max slammed the door to announce his arrival.

"You don't have to be so loud." Tensei entered the room with his sword in hand, "I hope you haven't tired yourself out from training with Shino-san."

"Nah, we didn't do much." Max kicked off his shoes, "Did you have a word with him again?" seemingly his sensei and his dad always had meetings without him knowing it, "I hope he didn't say anything bad whatsoever."

"As a matter of fact, I did. But don't worry, I'm not gonna kill you, you got a decent report." His Dad patted his shoulder, "We should eat first then train some more."

"What's for dinner, huh, Dad?"

"Whatever you feel like eating, I just restocked on junk food." Tensei gave his son a shove toward the kitchen, "It's a reward."

"Oh, cool!" Max rushed to the pantry and unearthed a bag of Fritos and salsa. "Is Okonomiyaki in here somewhere?"

"I can go buy it if you want to, anyways, the grocery is just down the street." Tensei pulled on his jacket and headed out the door.

"Ah, no matter." Max plopped himself down on the couch and turned on the television, "What's on T. V." he grabbed the remote and started flipping through the channels.

The phone rang suddenly, "Please leave a message after the beep, arigato…" the machine blared out.

"Um, Max," it was his Dad, "I…um, forgot my wallet."

"Mizu-chan." Her mother called weakly from the bedroom, "How was it?"

"Um, it was fun." Mizu poked her head timidly inside, "How are you, Mama?"

"All right," she managed a small smile, "You should get yourself something to eat, you must not end up like me."

"Um, Mama, what did the doctors say?" Mizu asked shyly.

"They said the surgery must be soon." Her mother heaved a sigh, "It must be within the next three months or else I might not last long."

"Mama, but we…"

"We'll manage, Mizu-chan, don't worry about it, just become stronger, I believe in you."

"Hai, Mama." Mizu nodded slightly, "My honor is try and my duty is to love."

Her mother patted her head gently and coughed, "Good girl, Mizu-chan."

"Mama, I wanted to ask you something." Mizu looked at her closely. "Does it really matter to you that I am weak?"

"Of course it doesn't, you're only 9, and you have plenty of time to mature into an ANBU member, Mizu-chan, my hope is I'll live to see that."

"Thank you, Mama, good night."

"I'm home, Sasuke-san." Ayame slumped down on an armchair, "To hell with this."

"Okay, obviously you didn't have a good day, Aya-chan, what the hell's up now?" Sasuke appeared suddenly behind her, "What the hell did Ino do now?"

"Nothing, the whole day frickin sucked, that's why." Ayame smoothed down her dark braid, "I fought Rain today."

"What, that Souke girl?" Sasuke turned to her, "Did you win or lose, huh?"

"It was a damn draw, Ino called it." Ayame smirked.

"Why did the girls decide to spar? It seems very unlike them, I thought they'd get some of those stupid missions from Kakashi."

"Hinata-san suggested it." She shrugged, "She's kinda freaking me out lately, too cool, if you know what I mean."

"Crap it all." Sasuke groaned, "My day wasn't that great either."

"What's wrong, eh?"

"Tell me something, it's about Kinji." Sasuke turned away from the girl, "You're in the same class as him, right?"

"He's a really weird guy, too obsessed with the bugs and shit." Ayame replied, "It probably runs in the family."

Notes: Uh, sorry if that was a little weird, I think it was, I was multi-tasking, updates won't come this fast from now on, I have stuff going on, but I'll try my best. Next chapter has the following people: Sephiroth Sekimb, Sao Brad, Azuki Riku, Hyuga Rain, and Kai. Just out of curiousity, who made which character?


	6. Nighttime Happenings

Disclaimer: I won't waste words, don't own this…

Notes: Thanks for all the constructive criticism, seriously. Um, let's see, I know that I don't keep the senseis in character sometimes, I'm sorry, going to try harder from now. And I promise this chapter would be more interesting, since I actually do have a double storyline… once again, the people mentioned in the chap are the following: Sephiroth Sekimb, Sao Brad, Azuki Riku, Hyuga Rain, and Kai.

One last thing, I feel like I can't characterize the people properly without the answers to these questions. So would you guys send the answers to my email: ilasianviolinistyahoo.com and be sure to say which character. Thanks a lot.

What's your biggest fear?

What is your reaction to pressure?

What would you do when your friend is dying?

Something that you find funny. (To put more humor in it)

To Crimson Sound and anyone else interested: Yeah, I can add pairings in it, you guys just have to tell me who, and it'd probably be a lot longer if I did do pairings so be patient.

Here goes then…

Riku sighed, the day's training had drained a lot out of her, and she still hadn't won that sparring match with Akiko. At least her parents had no notion of where she'd gone off to this late at night, meaning she had done one smart thing today.

"Hey, Riku-chan, what're you doing out so late, hm?"

"Oh, it's you, Rain, what's up?" Riku turned and spotted the Hyuga girl around the corner, "What are you doing out?"

"Thought I'd wander around, you know, I can't sleep very easy these days." Rain grinned, "Wanna come?"

"You're being nice, that's scary." Riku gave her teammate a hard look, "What do you want?"

"Nothing, do you have to be so suspicious all the time, Riku-chan?" Rain returned her piercing gaze, "It's not like I'd beat you up or something. After what happened today with Akiko, I figured you'd suffered enough anyway."

"What the hell is that suppose to mean?" Riku's violet eyes flared violently, "You'll be sorry you said that, Hyuga Rain, someday…"

"Damn, I'm just kidding," Rain said quickly, "But now that you said that, I gather you are sneaking out to train, right?"

"Your Byakugan's hard at work, I see." Riku commented dryly, "What about your parents, won't they be worried that their darling heir is gone?"

"They know where I am." Rain glared at her, "I'll warn you, you're pissing me off."

"That's very kind of you." Riku scoffed, "You're pissing me off too, for that matter."

"Good, then get the hell outta my way." Shoving the girl aside roughly, Rain turned away, "And don't interfere again with my shit."

"Baka, it's not like I want to."

###########################

Sekimb hurled his five feet long katana toward the target for the 300th time. "300!" he cried triumphantly and sank to his knees, breathing hard.

"Somebody's happy I see."

"What do you want?" Sekimb demanded without turning, if anything, having his training session interrupted by someone really annoyed him, "Make it quick."

"I thought you would've had more respect for me after trying to run me through with that big-ass sword of yours." The speaker was Sao Brad. "Remember? This morning?"

"Sao-kun, was that suppose to be funny? Oh, oops." Once again without warning, the big sword spun out of his control again.

"Next time, remind me to stand 50 feet away from you when I'm speaking to you." Brad jumped to the right to avoid being sliced in half. "And what's with that belt?"

"What belt?" Sekimb looked blank, "Oh, you mean my materia?" he gestured down at the 'gemstones' that hung at his waist, "What about it?"

"What the heck are those?"

"Stones, literally." Sekimb unfastened a greenish-colored one, "Elemental effects, kinda like."

"Don't you use Ninjutsus or Ginjutsus?" Brad asked.

"Why else do you think I carry around this big-ass sword and 6 pounds worth of materia?" Sekimb snapped, this guy was really trying his patience, "Can I get back to training now? I promised my brother that I would beat his record of 578."

"That'll be the day." Brad smirked. "What's with you people, are you trying to work till you collapse or something?"

"You got a problem with that?" Sekimb sneered back.

"No, it's just interesting." Brad shrugged, "That's all."

#########################

Kai liked pain, he welcomed it, and he liked blood. And death. At age 13, he had killed many of his rivals. Yet his greatest ambition was to die himself. There had been many times when he had almost completed suicide, but always something or someone had to get in his way. Two weeks ago it was Akiko, then Iruka, then hokage had to interfere, giving him a lecture on The Goodness of the Road of Life.

But it had been done, and now no one could stop him. The kunai was pierced through his right palm, and surely enough he would bleed to death and no one would stop him. After all, he was Kai, the orphan, and the bad boy…

He heard voices, he recognized them as Azuki-san and that Souke girl. "Damn." Soon enough they would find him and then persuade him to live a little longer.

And of course, he was always right…

Riku discovered him first, "Kai-san." She studied him warily, "What are you doing here."

"That would be none of your concern," he replied curtly, with a glance at Rain added, "None of yours either, Hyuga-san."

"What the hell did you do to your hand?" Rain's eyes trailed over to his wound, "I hope you haven't being in a fight and got whipped."

"Shut up, I have never gotten whipped and you're not going to witness it." Kai glared at them spitefully, "Get out of here."

"It just happens to be public property." Riku knelt down next to him," But, no, I don't think he got whipped."

"So, what if I didn't?" Kai pulled out the kunai and fainted from the pain. "Shit."

########################################

"So why are you just standing there?" Sekimb looked at Brad, "I have 278 strikes to do before I go home."

Brad grinned, "So you're serious about it then, huh?" he got to his feet, still grinning, "Fine, I'll help you." He pulled out his own two swords, "Let's say, if I do a hundred strikes, and you do 178, you'll be done, right?"

"That's cheating." Sekimb scoffed and turned away from Brad.

"Well, yeah, depends on how you look at it. But really, we still have training tomorrow and it's already—" Brad paused to check his watch, thank goodness it was digital and glow in the dark, "Eleven o clock. You're gonna be tired tomorrow and you got Sasuke-san as your sensei, he's one of the tougher ones."

"Whatever, why are you being nice to me anyway?" Sekimb glowered at him, "If I do work myself to death, it doesn't matter to you."

"Geesh, nobody'll notice, and I'm helping you cause I'm a nice guy and you're too young to die." Brad smiled, "So yeah, or no."

"Fine, nobody knows you're here, you have never been here, agreed?" Sekimb said after a long pause. "You go first then."

"Agreed." Brad nodded, "301!" he hurled one of his swords toward the target, it missed by only an inch or so.

"You're not bad, you know." Sekimb approved, "302!" it hit below Brad's shot.

"And who are you to criticize me?" Brad pulled out his other sword, "You missed the mark too. 303! Hey, I hit!"

"I hit the target more times than you." Sekimb gnashed his teeth and tasted the grit from biting his nails. "304!" he was glad to hear his shot strike the target with a satisfying clang, "But since I got this one too, Sao-kun, l think we are even."

"No, not if I best you again." Brad stepped forward confidently, he was starting to really think that this was fun, training had never been his strong point but now, he was starting to enjoy it.

################################################

If there was anything that Kai hated after being alive after a suicide attempt, it was pity. "I'm fine!" he struggled uselessly against his invisible bonds. The girls seem to have tied him down with strands of chakra or something, "Goddamn you two, let go!"

"Kai-san, when the hell are you going to come to your senses and be normal?" Riku slapped him on the face. "What's the point of killing yourself?"

"Azuki-san, if you were me, you would do the same thing." Kai winced, the chakra cut into his wrists, "If you had no parents and the whole shit of a village viewed you as a freak of nature?"

"I don't think you're a freak, Kai-san." Rain pulled the chakra bindings tighter, "You have an attitude problem, but otherwise, you're okay."

"If you think that way, why don't you let go of me, dammit!" Kai glared at the Hyuga girl, "You guys don't know, so stop trying to restrain me."

"What do we don't know?" Riku demanded.

"You really wanna know?"

#################################################

"575!"

"576!"

"577!"

Brad felt numb, it was like having his throwing arm permanently glued to his sword, like he was a robot or something, that Sekimb kid must have a stamina gauge matching Naruto-sensei's.

"578!" Sekimb, too, was getting very tired, but he did it! "Oh, yeah!" he punched the air, "I did it!"

"Huh, and don't give me any credit." Brad groaned and stretched out on the grass.

"Nobody saw you, and you were never here." Sekimb looked at him jokingly, "Just kidding, thanks, Sao-kun, I guess."

"No need, next time, don't try to kill me with that big-ass sword." Brad limped away, "Gotta hand it to you though, dude, you have some helluva stamina."

"And you have a pea brain in your head, for trying to help me." Sekimb returned with a lopsided smile, "Just one more, though, then I'll really beat my brother's record."

"Oh, crap." Brad groaned, "You have issues."

#####################################################

"Yeah, I mean, if you have some horrible birthmark or something, that's nothing to be ashamed of, you know?" Rain finally released the strands and helped him up, "The Hyuga bunke all have that cursed seal."

"Mine's worse." Kai sighed, "Do you truly wanna know?"

Both girls nodded somewhat excitedly.

Kai swept back his hair and revealed his left eye, "Byakugan!" and then his right, "Sharingan!"

Riku flinched ever so slightly, "What the hell is that?"

"I told you I was a freak." Kai deactivated his eyes and sank back onto the grass.

"Riku-chan, I think we'd better get Kai-san home." Rain said after a minute.

######################################################

Note: Okay, this is really hard and thanks for bearing with me. Mentioned in the next chapter the following: Ketsueki Shinri, Uchiha Fei, Yamamoto Akiko, and Ryuuchi Shikari.And yeah, nothing else I guess, later.


	7. Slumber Party

Disclaimer: What's the point? Don't own this and since you know that perfectly well, I'm not gonna put one in the next chap, it's a waste of ink.

Notes: Mentioned in this Chap: Ketsueki Shinri, Ryuuchi Shikari, Uchiha Fei, and Yamamoto Akiko. Umm, yeah.Really short chapter, but I was in a hurry, gomen.

Note to Jinky Kuprica: Obviously you like Sasuke, and I'm sorry if you feel that Fei is left out, I hope that this chapter will make up for it.

To Astly Hinata-chan: Umm, the SasuHina bit will come in like in Chapter 13 or 14, but at the rate I'm going, I'll never get there, and I have a feeling all the Naruto fans are gonna kill me when the time comes…ehehehe.

7. Slumber Party

"Shinri-chan!" called her mother, "Get the phone!"

Shinri sighed with annoyance and flipped herself nimbly off the couch and grabbed the receiver, "Hello? Make it quick, whoever you are."

"Well, Shinri, isn't that a nice greeting." The caller was her friend, Fei, "Fine, tell you what? I'll make it quick by hanging up, how about."

"I thought it was someone else." Shinri said quickly, "Like Akiko or somebody."

"Why the heck do you hate her so much?" Fei asked with interest.

"I don't hate her, come on, Fei, what the hell, she's a slut." Shinri sank down on the couch. "I just can't stand her type."

"You're weird, I'll tell you that much." Fei muttered, then added, "Hey, oh, yeah, I was gonna ask you if you could come over and spend the night at my place."

"Who else is gonna be there?" Shinri narrowed her eyes, even though Fei couldn't see over the phone, "Akiko is, isn't she?"

"Well, er, yeah, but Shikari's going too, and she's not that bad." Fei answered somewhat hesitantly, "If you really do hate her that much, then just don't talk to her."

"Goddamn, for the last time. I don't hate her." Shinri sighed, "Yeah, I guess, don't have anything better to do anyway." She hung up. "Ma, I'm going out."

####################################

Shinri showed up on Fei's doorstep precisely 13 minutes later, "Hey."

"Hi, them two are already here." Fei greeted her friend shortly, "Come on."

Shikari and Akiko were sitting at the card table drinking cocoa, "Hi!" Akiko chirped brightly, looking up from the magazine, Chuunin Chic.

Shikari just nodded, "You came too, I see."

Fei, on the other hand, was having second thoughts about having this party, after all, she wasn't the outgoing type, and it was obvious that her guests, with the exception of Akiko weren't either. "Umm, should we, um, pop in a video or something?"

"I guess, don't care, really." Shinri shrugged, curling up on an armchair.

"What flicks do you have?" Shikari looked interested.

"I dunno, just about everything." Fei was on her knees, rooting through the pile of tapes, "Genre?"

"Action." Said Shikari, the same time that Akiko piped up with, "Romance!"

"Regarding my question this morning," Shikari turned to Akiko, "Why the hell do you guys care so much about boys and crap?"

"Boys aren't crap!" Akiko was indignant.

"No," Shikari sipped her cocoa calmly, "I didn't say they were, nor will you ever hear me say it, just that caring too much about their opinions might screw you up?"

"In what way?" Akiko demanded hotly.

"For instance," Shinri glanced up at the girl dressed in a pink tank and miniskirt, "You might become depressed because your nonexistent boyfriend dumped you?" she yawned, "Can you just pop in that stupid movie, Fei?"

"All right, gosh. This is a random tape, and don't blame me if it turns out to be shit." Fei turned on the television. "Here goes."

All four of them stared expectantly at the screen, which stayed blank until a white flash brought out the words, 'Toy Story'

"Turn it off." Shikari and Shinri ordered at the same time, shielding their eyes from the ludicrously childish pictures.

"Alright, I told you it was random." Fei clicked the screen off again. "My brother must've been watching. How about Rush Hour 2 or something."

"Um, how about no?" Shinri suggested uncoiling herself and sitting upright in the old armchair, "

"Oh, I know!" Akiko began to flip furiously through the magazine, "We can play this!"

"What?" Shikari grabbed it from her and read, "Shinobi Tell All: Get the Secrets!" it was a board game type of thing with a built in spinner and cards and crap, "What the hell is this?"

"It's a cool game, kinda like truth or dare. It'll be fun!" Akiko ripped out the game pieces.

Just then, the doorbell rang, Fei jumped up, "Save by the bell, I'll get it!"

The visitor was, too good to be true, Sasuke. "Greetings, Fei." He grasped her hand briefly, "Is your mother here?"

"Yeah, uh, I think she's in the kitchen cooking." Fei stammered, "You need anything?"

"Nah," Sasuke shrugged "I forgot, last week was your birthday, wasn't it?" he rummaged around in his pack, "Ah, found it, here you go, happy late 13th, I guess."

"Th-th-thanks." Fei took the package from him, blushing a deep crimson as she looked at her shoes, "A lot, Sasuke-san."

"Don't worry about it, it's nothing." Sasuke nodded and headed into the kitchen.

######################################

"Awww…" Akiko sighed.

"Shut up." Fei kicked the girl off the chair, still clutching the package tightly, "Say that again and I'll kill you."

"Seriously, Fei, you shouldn't just toss threats out like that." Shikari took an unnecessarily large gulp of the hot drink, "Point is, someone might take them for real and kill you first."

"Frankly, I don't care," Fei carefully began to unwrap the package. "Hey, this is cool!" she unearthed a kunai with entwined with gold ivy leaves, along with a note, _Fei, Happy Birthday, train hard, and don't lose this…Sasuke-san._

Shinri grabbed the note from her, "Uh huh, this explains it, no wonder you're obsessed with him."

"Hey, I'm not!" Fei protested.

"Whatever." Shinri yawned and looked to Akiko, who was still preparing the game pieces, "Do we have to wait a decade to play that stupid game of yours?"

"Wha—oh, it's almost ready." Akiko shuffled the cards carelessly and dropped them, "Oops."

"What the hell?" Fei picked one up and scanned it, "Name your crush and reason why you like him, punishment: 10 punches on the arm."

"There is no way in hell I'm playing something like that." Shinri groaned out loud, "Better yet, I think, since Akiko, here is probably the only one of us who wants to play, then you'll just answer all the questions and we'll have much more fun punishing you."

"That's not fair." Akiko whined.

"Or is it?" Shikari cocked an eyebrow, "I'm going to the bathroom."

"Yeah, I think it is quite fair." Fei added with a wicked glance at Akiko, "I'll be looking forward to those 10 punches."

"Anyway," Shinri returned the grin, "Should we start?"

"Um, Fei?" Sasuke poked his head into the living room, "Did your mother go out without telling you? I can't find her."

"Maybe she did, I'm positive she did say something about Hinata-san…"

"Hinata-san, eh?" Sasuke looked thoughtful, "No, it's not that important anyway, I'll come back tomorrow, see ya." He waved a hand and left.

"See you." Fei tripped over the rug in her eagerness to open the door, Sasuke caught her by the arm, "Careful."

"For future reference, Fei, um, Isn't Sasuke-san a little old for you, he's alreadly in his late twenties and all." Shinri smirked lightly as soon as Sasuke was out of earshot, "Be careful indeed."

###############################

Notes: I know that was kind of random, but all chapters are, sorry if you people are disappointed, I really do try my best. Oh, before I forget, note to Crutches: It's just the way I learned to spell Ginjutsu, and I can start spelling it Genjutsu, though…thanks for the constructive advice. Next chapter, people mentioned are the following: Uribatake Seiya, Shorai Natsu, Aburame Kinji, and Uchiha Maki.


	8. Picnic in the Woods

Notes: Mentioned People: I've decided to write about all the remainder characters, making it longer, so the list is: Shorai Natsu, Kazama Jin, Uribatake Seiya, and Aburame Kinji, Uchiha Maki, Lee Taichi, Kuromori Ali, and Aquarius Rai. And would people kindly give me pairings for later use? Cause I got a really cool ideal, like in chapter 11 and 12 involving them. (Weird Chapter warning) Sorry it took me so long, it was hard to come up with an idea for the group.

8. Picnic in the Woods

Lee Taichi couldn't have landed himself in a weirder situation or group as this, he was actually going on a PICNIC with seven other strange people he hardly knew, definitely not an ideal way to spend a Saturday. Taichi was sure he'd be better employed training or playing video games…

"Hey, Tai-san." Kazama Jin, who was walking beside him, tapped him on the shoulder none too gently, "Earth to Tai!"

"Oh, Wha—what?"

"Would you please stop drifting off in your own little world looking half dead?" the red-hair boy slapped him on the arm, "You're scaring me."

"Would you two stop jabbering and hurry up?" called Shorai Natsu, who was in the front of the line, along with Uchiha Maki. "I would like to eat lunch before the sun goes down."

"Geez, she's loud." Jin stuck his head back into his book, "I mean you see that Aquarius dude and the bug freak making out back there and she's not saying anything about that…"

WHAM! A sharp blow caught Jin in the back of the head, Aquarius stood behind him, looking very annoyed, "Repeat that." The quiet boy challenged softly.

"Guys, what the hell is going on here?" Kuromori Ali doubled back toward them, "Why did you hit him?"

"Dunno." Aquarius shrugged, "He said things."

"I want to go home." Complained another voice, "What's the point of all this when you could go to the nature museum and order take-out?" the speaker was non other than Uritabake Seiya, he had been allowed, or rather instructed to walk 500 ft. away from everyone else.

"Damn, you smell, go to sleep." Aburame Kinji appeared mildly concerned but pinched his nose all the same, "Who invited you anyway?"

"Doesn't matter." The ginger-haired boy yawned, "I forgot, it's useless information anyway, and believe me, Kinji, I would go to sleep, but it's altogether too troublesome."

Ali glared at the radiation suit-clad genin in disgust, "Oh? And why is it troublesome?"

"YO, you assholes!" the entire group had halted now, Natsu shoved her way back to where the quarrel was taking place. "What the BLOODY hell is going on here?"

"We were engaged in a very interesting conversation about why sleeping is such a big issue for this lazy bum, here." Kinji told her, keeping a perfectly straight face, "This debate is going nowhere."

"Obviously." Aquarius commented quietly, after Jin lay there on the ground unconscious.

"What did you do to him?" Taichi stared at the corpse, wide-eyed.

"Beat him up, it was no big deal, you know." The gold-eyed boy replaced his kunai in his pack, "That was fun while it lasted."

"Hey, guys!" Maki, too, joined the others, "What's going on?"

"Clueless as usual." Kinji shook his head.

"Sometimes it is hard to imagine you as an Uchiha." Ali looked at the altogether too cheerful boy, "You're 150% too happy."

"That's a good thing, sometimes." Taichi ventured, "Sometimes people are too depressed and all."

"Like Kai?" Seiya evidently had been eavesdropping.

"Don't waste words." Both Taichi and Ali reprimanded him at the same time.

"Eh, ow…" Jin was starting to come to, "Who beat me up?"

########################

In the end, they decided to eat their homemade lunch of sandwiches and coke (which were both store-bought by Seiya, surprisingly.) right there in the middle of the road, since they were too tired to move anywhere else.

They sat in this order (I'm bored): Aquarius, Kinji, Taichi, Seiya, Ali, Natsu, Maki, and Jin had fainted again in Maki's lap.

"Eww…get off!" Maki shoved the boy off of him.

"Um, guys?" Taichi ventured quietly, "Can we eat now?"

"Yeah, here." Natsu, the appointed food keeper handed the bag to him, "Pass it on."

As everybody sat chomping on their lunches, Maki suddenly said, "Hey, people, wanna play a game?"

"What game?" Ali asked.

"It's a storytelling game, it's just where one person starts and then the next person connects to it and blah, blah, blah…" the young Uchiha explained rather excitedly.

"Why not?" Kinji shrugged, "There's not much else we can do anyway except hike, since I forgot my playing cards at home."

"I'll go first then!" Maki thought for a minute then began, "There once was an old farmer that had 7 sons, and they were all very happy as they lived in the Greek seashore."

"Greek seashore?" Natsu interrupted, "Last time I checked, farmers ain't got nothin' in Greece."

"It's just a story." Aquarius sipped his coke quietly, "I'll continue, and so this farmer died and his 7 sons started to quarrel about who would inherit the land, and their mother said that their father had instructed a contest to be held, the contest was who could manage to farmland best and come up with the most food in the following year."

"If anything," Kinji commented after the gold-eyed boy's invention gave out (which wasn't very surprising since that was the first time anyone ever heard Aquarius speak in a complete sentence), "This sounds kind of like the Grimm fairy tales that Shino-niisan would read me when I was little." He concentrated hard for a minute and said, "Their names were: Kito, Kira, Fujikata, Enji, Kei, Ando, and Yoku. I'm done."

"WHAT?" everyone, except Seiya and Jin yelled, "What kind of story was that?"

"Something. Continue, please, next person." The Aburame kept a straight face.

"Whatever." Ali sighed, "Okay, so No. 3 and No. 5 decided to work together and plant some beets and potatoes, and they watered it everyday, even though if it was salt water." She paused, then went on, "The oldest son, whatever his name was decided he was going to plant some tomatoes."

"Oh, okay." Seiya's voice was practically dripping with sarcasm, "I suppose they are numbered now, like lab specimens?" he crossed his arms and stretched out on the grass, "So the story goes, No. 4 and No. 3 both liked turnip soup a lot they planted them, which is, in my opinion, the most disgusting vegetable that exists on the face of the earth."

Lee Taichi subconsciously felt all eyes on him, "What's everyone staring at me for?" he demanded.

"No one was staring at you." Natsu said, "But now, since you drew attention to yourself, go."

"Um, um," Taichi stammered some as he tried to come up with something other than his usual odd daydreams, "I know, No. 6 decided to go fishing one day, because he built a fishing rod out of bamboo, it was supposed to be a present for his mother, but she seldom left the house, so he got his brother (No.2) to build him a canoe."

"What does that have to do with farming?" Maki asked.

"According to you, they live in Greece, and the Greeks like fishing, okay?" Taichi shot back.

"I'll go." Jin volunteered, he seemed to have woken up again without anyone noticing, and he was holding an orange-colored book that looked suspiciously familiar, "And so No. 6 went fishing, and he got shipwrecked and was rescued by sea nymphs, who took him underwater and became friends with him."

"Nymphs?" Ali glanced at the book in his hands, "What have you been reading?"

"Flirting—no, I mean Surfing Techs." Jin avoided her stare.

"Uh huh." Natsu gave a knowing nod, "You guys haven't seen Hokage-sama's books lately, have you? He put out a notice on the village billboard yesterday, they've been disappearing." She leaned forward on her elbows, "My turn, huh? Okay, so all of them got food, and brought it to their mother, and she hugged them all because she was glad they learned the value of hard work and sharing, and they lived happily ever after."

"That was some hell of a story." Seiya commented sarcastically, "Interesting ending for the rebel. Can we go home now?"

"Aw, Seiya." Maki complained cheerfully (since he was always cheerful,) "Lighten up!"

"How?" Seiya snapped, "I haven't got a light bulb on top of my head to light, kid, what the hell do you want?"

"Actually, Maki, Seiya-san is kind of right." Ali pointed west toward the setting sun; "It's almost time for dinner anyhow."

"Hey, guys." Taichi stole a look at Jin who had fainted again with the book shading his face, "Jin's reading Flirting Paradise."

That got everyone's immediate attention, "WHAT?" (Except Seiya)

"Good timing to faint." Aquarius stared down at him, "I'm not carrying him."

"Well, we solved the mystery of the missing book though." Kinji shrugged. "That should count for something, and what's more, it'll make the Hokage happy."

"Who cares about that old man anyway?" scoffed Seiya.

"Hey!' yelled Maki, "Don't insult Hokage-sama!"

"Guys..." Ali eyed the combatants warily, "Shut up."

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Yeah, I know, weird chapter, but I was suffering from writer's block, and remember to give me some pairings. Next chapter is the unofficial beginning of the Chuunin Tournament (I'm not doing the whole exam, it's too hard)


	9. Teacher Conference

Notes: Okay, so the pairings are: since no one bothered to give me any: Kai/Hyuga Rain, Lee Taichi/Hyuga Hotaru, Rai Aquarius/Azuki Riku, Aburame Kinji/ Ketsueki Shinri, Sao Brad/ Uchiha Fei, Yamamoto Akiko/Kazama Jin and Dakegi Max/Kuromori Ali, and if anyone disagrees, please raise objection now, these pairings will come into effect in chapter 11…this chapter is just kind of giving background on the chuunin exam.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: I need 6 more characters for the next chapter!! Please email them to me at or if one or the other doesn't work. You can choose either Itachi or Gaara to be your sensei and it doesn't matter if you already have a character. Thankies! PLEASE DO NOT PUT CHARACTER PROFILE ON REVIEW BOARD, or I'll have to repost this whole fic and that will be annoying.

9. Teacher's Conference

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Two months later…

The eight Jounin sensei's gathered into Kakashi's office, where the Hokage was waiting for them with a carafe of sake, "You all made it, good." He sounded satisfied, after all, he got his books back, and this was the first time the eight of them actually listened to him and showed up on time. "Topic of discussion: Chuunin Exam."

"It's too quick." Naruto protested at once, "And plus, we don't even know if the other villages are ready."

"Hm," Kakashi regarded his former student with mild surprise, "As I recall, Naruto, you were the most enthusiastic one when it came to taking the exam, even though you practically failed the first test."

Sasuke sniggered as Naruto flushed a brilliant shade of lavender, "One can't live on luck all the time."

"But," Hinata was quick to Naruto's defense, "Hokage-sama, he's right, it is too early, have you even consulted the other village kages?"

"I was thinking about just doing Leaf Exclusive this year." Kakashi scratched his head thoughtfully, "I mean, you know what happened last time we did the international version, right?"

"Yeah…" Neji stared straight ahead at seemingly nothing, "Last year, Lee picked a fight with Gaara again, even though he can't inflict anymore damage than a newborn, it ended more like a free for all than a chuunin exam…"

Sakura placed a hand on Neji's shoulder, "It's not his fault, I mean, if you suddenly were told that you can't fight anymore, and all this time, you've worked so hard to prove yourself, you'd probably be pissed too."

Neji turned pale, but stayed silent. Truth was, it really wasn't Lee's fault that he couldn't be a ninja, but now he was genuinely sorry for that hot-blooded fool, after all, he, Neji, had virtually just about taken everything from Lee, his crush, his honor, his power… "You know," he said finally, "I agree, it would be a lot less troublesome to do it just for Konoha."

Shikamaru, who had been dozing on the chair beside Shino, opened one eye, "Stop stealing my lines."

"I wasn't," Neji returned, feeling more than a little put out. "All you ever say is, "That's so troublesome." He got to his feet and faced Kakashi, "Is this meeting over now? If it is, I got better things to do than nothing." Without another word, he took his leave.

"Um," Hinata started to follow her cousin, but Naruto stopped her.

"That guy has his own issues, and they are complicated enough as it is." He said, and pulled her back down again, "He'll come back in due time."

After this abrupt departure, the group sat around in silence, until Sasuke said, "Kakashi, if you are really that lazy, screw the whole exam altogether and just do a tournament."

"Hey, now that's a rather interesting idea." Kakashi took an unnecessarily long swallow of sake as he considered the suggestion.

It was not very often that Shino ventured to offer a suggestion, but when he did, it was usually a good one, "We could do three on three and let the kids decide their opponents by selecting a captain. It would be less work for us anyway."

"Yeah." Ino agreed enthusiastically, then with a worried glance at Sasuke, added, "Don't you think so, Sasuke-kun?"

"Whatever." Sasuke poured himself another glass of sake and ignored Ino completely, "Who are the captains going to be anyhow?"

"Whoever you think deserves the stupid title, obviously." Naruto replied saucily. "Use your head."

"Oh, and I suppose you do?" the Uchiha glared at his long time rival.

"Guys." Shikamaru yawned, "Cut the crap, get a new program and then I can go home and take a nap."

"Right, okay then." Kakashi looked to Naruto then to Sasuke, "You guys can just nominate your captains now and I'll document it to make it official, you first then, Naruto."

"Kazama Jin," Naruto said at last, "even though he is a pervert, not unlike you, of course."

Kakashi scribbled it down on a piece of paper, probably hiding his red face, "Sakura?"

"Uchiha Fei." Sakura answered after a minute.

"Shino?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean I don't know?" Kakashi looked up, "just say a name and get it over with."

"Fine, Kuromori Ali then."

"Sasuke?"

"Sephiroth Sekimb." Sasuke announced with a sigh, "the kid who thinks everyday is Halloween."

"Ino?"

"Erm," Ino examined her newly polished nails for a good while before replying, "Hyuga Rain."

"Hinata?"

"Um…um…Kai." Hinata looked horrified at the very thought.

"Neji?" Kakashi paused, "wait, no, he's not he—"

"I'm here." Neji reentered the office wearing the sourest expression possible, "I'll have Hotaru."

"Shikamaru?"

"Seiya." Zzzz…

"Good," Kakashi looked around, "the 78th annual chuunin exam will began on the afternoon of August 4th, and of course, before that, we'll have to have the chuunin exam ball, of course… and everyone is required to get a date." he grinned wickedly, "meeting adjourned."

"But, Hokage-sama." Hinata ventured pleadingly, "They're too young."

"Too young, huh?" Kakashi raised a questioning eyebrow, "Some of you here." he said with a pointed glance at Neji, Sakura, Naruto, and Hinata, "Married and had kids at 16, so I don't think it will matter..."

Everyone groaned.

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Uchiha Itachi looked hard at Gaara, from across the table, "You will listen to me." he repeated calmly.

"It is not ready." Gaara countered, "We must wait for the blood to be spilled."

"The Leaf Chuunin Exam will begin in less than a month, according to my sources." Itachi replied evenly, "If you want to take revenge and kidnap the genins, I am the leader of the Akatsuki, so I decide on how things are done here, even if this is your village."

Gaara just glared back and said nothing, biting his tongue so hard that he tasted blood.

Itachi took that silence to mean agreement, "Rest assured, Gaara of the Desert, our students are well-trained to kill at need, you will get your wish for bloodshed, and my wish for seeing my brother." With that, he left the room.

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A/N: That was short, but with a violin competition coming up, I don't have as much time as I use to, remember to email the characters. More next time!


	10. Hopeless

Notes: People included are the enemies, only 3 characters were submitted so, I made up one, and my brother and cousin both made up the others. Just a little introduction for the enemies…(this chapt. Is just about Itachi and Gaara's plans)

1. Akizuki Yuumei, a cold sadistic genius (Team Gaara)-thanks to Jinky-kurapica

2. Leo- Gaara's 11 year old cousin, exact opposite of him, although just as strong (Team Gaara) (My brother's a genius…cackle)

3. Shinku Oto- prince of darkness, Gaara's best student (Team Gaara)-Thanks to Crimson Sound.

4. Kamori Arisa- very very loyal to Itachi, kinda like Haku and Zabuza. (Team Itachi) (in courtesy of my cousin who is obsessed with Itachi)

5. Shikikan Izin- Jutsu master, doesn't trust anyone, but will aid them if they need it (Team Itachi) –Thanks to Race Baj

6. Akadou Kengo- Chakra leech kid, has daylight issues: meaning he sleeps during the day, and screws around at night. (Team Itachi) mine…hehe. I have daylight issues too.

To Peter B. Borowski: I erased all my character profiles and put them in a notebook, but I will type it up and send it to you sometime.

To Kawaii-kirei: The creator of Aquarius Rai is Rednal29, but s/he doesn't review.

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10. Hopeless

Itachi almost tripped over a blue haired boy sprawled across the doorway, "For heaven's sake, Kengo!" he exploded, "It's one o clock in the afternoon!"

"Huh?" Akadou Kengo sat up, rubbing his red bloodshot eyes, "Oh, good morning, Itachi-sensei."

"Huh, good morning indeed." Itachi slapped the boy and pulled the still half-assed (and half asleep) chuunin to his feet, "Go do something useful for a change."

"Like what?" Kengo asked.

"Getting out of my face before I decide to malfunction your internal organs." The Atsuki leader had little tolerance for lazy bums like him, "Beat it."

"Fine." Kengo retreated down the hallway, a wise move.

Itachi just stood there, thinking, they were supposed to attempt a kidnapping operation with this group? Impossible, Leo was too hyper, Izin was always moving on his own, Arisa was too clingy, Oto was too slow, and the only one of any value was Yuumei…the gods must be crazy.

"Itachi-sama!" a girl shot out of nowhere and attached herself firmly to his arm, "Come quick! Leo-kun and Oto-san are fighting!" she begged.

"Again?" Itachi heaved a sigh, "Arisa, I don't have time for this."

"Like you hardly have time for anything." A tall figure stepped around the corner, "You don't need to trouble yourself, I took care of it, Itachi-sensei."

Itachi felt his near surface temper began to rise, "Remind me what sensei means, will you, Izin?"

"Teacher." Izin glared back, "But I see no reason why I should award you with that title."

A loud blast of angst metal music interrupted their argument as a green-haired boy with a walkman clipped to his gourd made his way over to the combatants. "Hey, Itachi-san. Is my cousin available now?!" he screamed to make himself heard over the power guitar chords.

A female chuunin with red hair plucked away the radio from the gourd, "Geez, Leo, if you wanted to make yourself deaf, why didn't you say so?" she demanded, rewarding him with a hard sock on the ear.

"That's enough, Mei." Itachi held out his hands to receive the radio equipment, "Give the junk to me."

Yuumei tossed them to the Uchiha and Leo made a grab for them, but Itachi was not called sanin for nothing.

"Now." Said Itachi, holding the equipment way above the boy's reach, "What the hell do you want?"

"I want my stuff back!" Leo whined, "It has my new Linkin Park CD in it!"

"What the hell is going on here?" Gaara came out of his office, looking very vexed, "Leo, what do you want?"

"I want Itachi-san to give me stuff back!" Leo glared at the sanin, "Make him give it back."

"Leo!" another guy clad in a black 'Shino' suit (I don't know how else to put it) came into the scene, it was Prince of Darkness. Shinku Oto "We haven't finished our fight yet." He toyed with a black energy bolt in his hands, "Are you a coward?"

"No!" Leo was indignant, "I'm not, Itachi-san stole my lucky Walkman! I want it back!" he was practically bawling by now

"Not until you calm down and talk like a regular human being." Itachi said firmly.

Yuumei obviously couldn't stand it that she was probably the only one that was sane here, some people were just hopeless geniuses. "Shut up, now, Leo." Her voice was dangerously soft, "Unless you want to purchase a new gourd."

"Humph." Izin snorted quietly, watching quietly in a corner, "What do I call him teacher for?"

"Because he is one." Arisa had discovered his hiding place, "How dare you degrade Itachi-sama."

"Oh, and I suppose he's going to fix me?" Izin smirked.

Arisa surprised him by securing a deathold on his neck, he hadn't expected such brutality from her, "I'll save him the trouble." She grinned.

Izin gasped for breath, he sucked at Taijutsu, and it was just his luck that Arisa excelled at Taijutsu, even though she gave the impression of being a helpless git. "Let go."

"Apologize for insulting Itachi-sama." The girl tightened her grip, "Say you give and I'll let go."

"Fine, fine," Izin clawed uselessly at her, "Sorry for insulting sensei now let go, dammit!"

"That's a first." Yuumei peeked around the corner, "Izin's actually giving in to a girl, how sad." As usual, her voice dripped with sarcasm, "What's wrong now? Were you trying to hit on her or something?"

"You wish." Izin rubbed his neck, "Next time I'll fix you." He gave Arisa the finger and left. "I'll get you."

"Nice one, Arisa." Yuumei gave one of her rare complements after Izin had slammed the door to his room, "What was he doing, anyhow?"

"He was insulting Itachi-sama." The silver-hair girl shrugged.

"Geez, he's not a god." Yuumei smirked, "There's loads of people better than him out there, and don't beat me up for saying that, but it's true."

"Thanks for encouraging me, obviously." The speaker was Itachi, followed by Leo and Oto, the young sand-nin (Leo) was still begging in vain for the return of his Walkman. "It's my turn to wet blanket you for once, this group is the lousiest I've ever been in charge of, You're all helpless and the day I succeed a mission with you guys is the day I get my ass whooped."

"Say what?" Izin and Oto balled their fists.

"He's right, you know." Kengo had unknowingly wandered back into their midst, "We do suck."

Gaara and Itachi exchanged glances and heaved a sigh, this mission was going to be hell indeed, and of course they weren't looking forward to it.

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Notes: Done! Kind of turned into a humor chapter there, but recently I'm writing angst/drama a lot more so that was a nice break. Next chapter: Just like Valentines, featuring the couples listed in chap. 9. Gotta go eat now, bye!


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